The aim of this paper is to review the impact of entrepreneurs' attitudes toward the defined business risks on the perception of the future of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 454 SMEs from the Czech Republic (CR) participated in the research and completed an online questionnaire. Structural equation modelling and factor analysis were used to identify the causal relationships between the examined variables. Entrepreneurs' attitudes toward business failure also have a positive effect on the future of the SME. The perception of financial risk in positive indicators of financial performance and the perception of financial risk as part of the company's everyday life have the most significant impact on future business. Operational risk is reflected in the utilisation of corporate resources, reducing customer complaints about the quality of the company's products and the company's independence of a limited number of suppliers. The company's sales volume adequacy provides a source of market risk. It has the third strongest positive impact on the future business in the SME segment. The research results provide a valuable platform for the authors of national and regional development strategic plans looking for SME support and development as well as the authors of the relevant policies.

Competitive advantage is the key to a company’s success, and the business strategy represents a long-term plan to achieve a competitive advantage by affecting the company’s financial behavior. This research studies the interaction of business strategy, competitive advantage, and financial strategy to explore whether companies choose different financial strategies based on their business strategies as well as what role competitive advantage plays in their decision-making. By building a composite index and observing maturity mismatched investment, this research quantifies the risk level of business strategies and financial strategies. Using text analysis of a company’s annual report, the research builds a dummy variable to measure the competitive advantage. Based on the samples of A-shares listed on the China Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2007 to 2016, the research shows that the risk level of business strategy and financial strategy tends to move in opposite directions. If a company embraces an aggressive business strategy, it is more likely to choose a conservative financial approach in terms of lower overall risks, but for the company with a competitive advantage, the negative correlation between these two strategies is weakened. Further analysis found that company ownership, free cash flow, and the quality of internal control also play a significant role in the interaction between business strategy and financial strategy. Our findings not only enrich research on business strategy and financial behavior, but also deepen the understanding of competitive advantage and corporate financial strategy theoretically.

From the moment it was first indicated that use of aluminum chloride during purification of drinking water might be one of the triggers of Alzheimer’s disease, it took only a few years to almost abandon this practice worldwide. Now, two years after the initial evidence was presented that the cheapest possible replacement for aluminum chloride (ferric hydroxide, better known as ferrous sludge) significantly threatens soil fertility, there is almost no action. A robust case study was conducted among European drinking water treatment plants. First, it is reported that some samples of ferrous sludge can reduce phosphorus availability by more than 70%. This creates a precondition for a significant reduction in fertility over a decade. Because the legislation usually responds to similar findings with great delay, the extent to which managers of drinking water treatment plants are willing to change process settings by themselves has also been assessed. The findings obtained allow us to expect that a long continuation of this hazardous practice can be expected, since managers of drinking water treatment plants show little willingness to switch from the ongoing questionable technology (harmful to nutrient cycles in soil) to environmentally favorable (though slightly more costly) solutions.

The scientific impacted periodical journal (indexed on Web of Science) published by the Tomas Bata University offers results of basic and applied economic research.

Český finanční a účetní časopis

The reconstruction of buildings generally prolongs their useful life, increases their utility value, and last but not least, leads to an increase in their value. These assumptions only apply if an independent third party reaches the same conclusion together with the owner. However, the undesirable effect of the reconstruction of a building may be a decrease in its value. The aim of this contribution is to determine the change in value of an older sample building assessed in the included case study as a result of its reconstruction. Valuation methods are applied, which, as it turns out, reveal the inaccuracy of the subjective view of the person who reconstructed the building. The resulting change in the value of the sample building is discussed from the point of view of the applied valuation methods and other value-creating aspects (subjective view of the owner on the value of the building, historical value of the building, etc.). The contribution concludes with recommendations for maximizing the increase in value of a property through its reconstruction so as to eliminate the risk of a decrease in its value.